Golden State Warriors are set to face Phoenix Suns Saturday night for the highly anticipated matchup. Stephen Curry will bring his A-game and break the Christmas curse.
Advertisement
Warriors finally defeated the Memphis Grizzlies, who were thought to be their kryptonite. Chef Curry had an incredible night scoring 46 on 50/50/100 shooting splits. December has always been a tough month for the 2x MVP and this season is no different.
Last night, however, Steph took over in the fourth and gave his team a 9-point win in the last 2 minutes of the game. He rallied past the shooting slump and plans to continue this with the Christmas game fast approaching.
The Golden State Warriors currently hold the second spot in the west. If they manage to defeat the Phoenix Suns again they can take the #1 seed back. After the big night against the Grizzlies, Steph addressed the media about his infamous Xmas-Day games over the years.
Steph on what he thinks of playing a game in Christmas: “I like it because it means you’re one of the marquee teams… I personally don’t like it because I haven’t played well (during X-mas)… I’m trying to rectify that on Saturday.”
— Joe Viray (@JoeVirayNBA) December 24, 2021
A history of Stephen Curry playing awful basketball on Christmas day
So far in his career, Curry has played 10 Christmas games and Golden State has a 3-7 record in those games. He missed 2 years because of injuries and in the 2012-13 NBA season they weren’t good enough to earn the Christmas day matchup. In those 10 games he averages, 13.5 points, 6.5 assists, 5.1 rebounds on a mere 30% FG and just 1.3 made 3s.
Clearly, the Xmas curse is real in Steph’s case. In addition, he averages 3.9 turnovers in those 10 games which are higher than his career average. Most of those matchups were against LA Clippers in the first half of the 2010s and the Cavaliers in the later period. Last season the Warriors were severely shorthanded and Milwaukee Bucks blew them out.
This season, however, is a different case altogether. Even though Klay Thompson and James Wiseman are still out Warriors are playing elite basketball. They snapped Suns’ 18-game win streak to extend their own home-win streak. These teams are in a tough battle for the #1 spot in the western conference. The Christmas game will decide which one of them will take the top seed.
Golden State Warriors are two starters down as Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole are sidelined due to Covid. Stephen Curry and co will certainly feel their absence against the healthy Phoenix Suns Saturday night.
